How exciting to see the article in the Sun about the women who won the sailing Race to Alaska. Thank you for shining a light on their achievements.

Unfortunately, many women and girls in the developing world will not have the opportunities those skilled women sailors have. In this time of amazing medical advancements, it is heartbreaking that worldwide every day 2,000 girls and young women will contract AIDS. About half will receive life-saving treatment and half will lose their lives to this terrible disease.

The U.S. has provided leadership to reduce death from AIDS for 18 years, through its investment in the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Deaths have been reduced significantly, but still, AIDS claims far too many lives; TB continues to be the largest infectious killer in the world, and drug-resistant malaria (a major killer of children) is on the rise around the world.

In October, at the Global Fund Replenishment Conference, the U.S. has the opportunity to continue its leadership for global health. Every dollar that is pledged to the Global Fund by the U.S. is matched $3 by other nations, and billions provided by recipient countries. Our national investment is magnified many times to save lives, build stability in an uncertain world, and to protect our own nation from these terrible infectious diseases.

The Global Fund could help create a world in which all women and girls can successfully compete in contests of skill and intellect like the Race to Alaska!

Beth Wilson, Olalla

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